irrelevant

adjective

i-ˈre-lə-vənt How to pronounce irrelevant (audio)
Definition of irrelevantnext
as in meaningless
not having anything to do with the matter at hand irrelevant questions that merely disrupted the classroom lesson

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of irrelevant The newspaper would rather devote much of its energy on the out-of-town and irrelevant Miami Heat. — Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 27 June 2026 Horowitz said Lunas Campos’ criminal history is irrelevant to his detention. — Perla Trevizo, ProPublica, 3 July 2026 The Fan Footage Is What Counts Your concert experience is almost irrelevant. — Jesse Kirshbaum, SPIN, 3 July 2026 By the early twentieth century, lawyers and judges considered natural law to be irrelevant to the legal system, and the language all but disappeared from legal arguments and decisions. — Jeannie Suk Gersen, New Yorker, 2 July 2026 See All Example Sentences for irrelevant
Recent Examples of Synonyms for irrelevant
  1. meaningless
  2. immaterial
  3. inapplicable
  4. extraneous
  5. useless
  6. inappropriate
  7. impertinent
Adjective
  • One sure focus is the rampant grade inflation that exaggerates student achievement and has made graduating high school close to meaningless as an indicator of college preparedness.
    — U T Editorial Board, San Diego Union-Tribune, 3 July 2026
  • This distinction between meaningful and meaningless data evokes signal versus noise, a communication concept formulated by the mathematician Claude Shannon.
    — Michael Ashley, Forbes.com, 2 July 2026
Definition of meaningless
Adjective
  • The money, in Gupta’s view, is immaterial.
    — April Long, Allure, 24 June 2026
  • The fact that it was conceived without thought and for decades was produced and consumed without thought is immaterial.
    — Jeremy Repanich, Robb Report, 20 June 2026
Definition of immaterial
Adjective
  • In a recent conversation with Peter Diamandis, an entrepreneur and executive chairman of the XPrize Foundation, Musk fleshed out his moonshot visions for the future, which have previously included work being completely optional and retirement becoming inapplicable.
    — Sasha Rogelberg, Fortune, 12 June 2026
  • Like everything else in the Law, exemptions are subject to the General Rule which is that general rules are generally inapplicable.
    — Jay Adkisson, Forbes.com, 21 Apr. 2026
Definition of inapplicable
Adjective
  • Still, Copilot is going through a reset, with Andreou eliminating extraneous versions of the AI tool and merging the teams that focused on consumer and enterprise versions of the product.
    — Sebastian Herrera, Fortune, 27 June 2026
  • The Invite should, in a perfect world, relegate that extraneous stuff to the back pages.
    — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 26 June 2026
Definition of extraneous
Adjective
  • At any rate, upon election my first official act would be to file legislation to do away with the useless job.
    — Peter Lucas, Boston Herald, 2 July 2026
  • An ultra-secure cloud environment is useless if the identity management policy is lax or if access privileges are not reviewed on a strict need-to-know basis.
    — Vicente Pava, Forbes.com, 2 July 2026
Definition of useless
Adjective
  • Murdaugh’s attorneys appealed the convictions, saying the trial was tainted by the county clerk Becky Hill’s inappropriate comments to jurors implying his guilt.
    — Eric Levenson, CNN Money, 29 June 2026
  • Live streams and other unfiltered media can expose kids to risky or inappropriate content, so adult guidance is key.
    — Kara Nesvig, Parents, 28 June 2026
Definition of inappropriate
Adjective
  • Some Percy Jackson fans are acting quite impertinent.
    — James Hibberd, HollywoodReporter, 13 Apr. 2026
  • That your answer is not believed by these nosy, impertinent people is insulting.
    — Judith Martin, Mercury News, 19 Dec. 2025
Definition of impertinent

Browse Nearby Words

irrelevancy
irrelevant
irrelevantly
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Irrelevant.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/irrelevant. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.

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More from Merriam-Webster on irrelevant

Nglish: Translation of irrelevant for Spanish Speakers

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